siliconvalleyfandomcom-20200214-history
Talk:Sheila Davis
References *Referred by Allen Gunn *Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition *Bio *SVTC Media Archive Notes *Bio. Sheila Davis, Executive Director. Over the past 10 years, Sheila Davis has played a valuable role at SVTC and in shaping environmental policy in the high tech industry. She is one of the co-founders of the Computer TakeBack Campaign and sits on its steering committee. In 1996 she researched and developed the first electronic recycling legislation to reach the California Governor’s desk and in 1999 spearheaded the first pilot programs in the country to collect and recycle electronic waste from the residential curbside. Before becoming SVTC’s executive director, she served as program director of SVTC's Sustainable Technologies Program (formerly the Clean Computer Campaign). Sheila's research, advocacy and policy development led to a successful ban on hazardous electronic waste from the California municipal landfills and the subsequent passage of the first electronic recycling legislation in the nation. Sheila holds a bachelor degree from the University of California and served as a journalist, state legislative aide and community development specialist before joining the staff of SVTC. *SVTC'S MISSION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE **Mission Statement. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is a diverse organization engaged in research, advocacy, and grassroots organizing to promote human health and environmental justice in response to the rapid growth of the high-tech industry. **Vision Statement. We envision a toxic-free future, where each new generation of technical improvements in electronic products includes parallel and proportionate advances in social and environmental justice. Our goal is environmental sustainability and clean production, improved health, and democratic decision-making for communities and workers most affected by the high-tech revolution. **Vision for a Sustainable Technology. The hi-tech industry was born and thrives on innovation, creating products that inspire our imagination. We would never want to turn back the clock on the technology revolution. However, this revolution has come at great cost to communities around the globe who suffer from high-tech pollution and related health problems associated with electronics production and disposal. SVTC works to hold the industry accountable and shift to a more environmentally sustainable model, harnessing its dazzling ingenuity to create electronics that are toxic-free and completely recyclable. SVTC works locally in Silicon Valley, nationally, and internationally to research the effects of electronics manufacturing and electronic waste, inform consumers on responsible electronics purchasing and recycling, and amplifying the voice of those most impacted by the high-tech revolution. **Vision for Sustainable Communities in Silicon Valley. SVTC is located in Silicon Valley, the birthplace of the hi-tech revolution and origin of many electronics manufacturing facilities. High-tech workers and the communities surrounding those facilities suffered from dramatic health problems from toxic exposure. Those communities came together to hold the industry accountable, create more stringent environmental protections, and move the EPA to create 29 priority Superfund sites the highest concentration in the nation. Since then, the industry has moved much of its manufacturing oversees where labor is cheaper and environmental protections weaker. However, the industry still employs thousands of service sector workers such as janitors, gardeners, and cafeteria workers. These low wage jobs are held primarily by immigrants and people of color, and because of low pay, they are often forced to live in polluted areas, in sub-standard housing, far from grocery stores that sell fresh produce. SVTC works with people from those areas to create more sustainable communities that have quality air, affordable housing, and access to health care and quality food. **Vision for Sustainable Communities Around the Globe. As in Silicon Valley, similar stories have arisen from the far corners of the world about the dangers of hi-tech production and the dumping of e-waste. Rice patties and groundwater supplies in China have been contaminated by high-tech manufacturing, endangering community food and water systems. E-waste has been sent to places like India and Nigeria where it is burned or buried. Electronics manufacturing and recycling workers’ often develop cancer, reproductive problems, miscarriages, and illnesses. And wherever the high-tech industry exists, it often leaves a wake of unintended collateral damage. Unfortunately, it is often the most impoverished workers and communities of color who are disproportionately affected. However, by working together, communities around the globe have held the industry accountable to consider public health and our environment, and shift towards greater sustainability for high-tech communities. *HISTORY OF SVTC **High-tech Production Lead to Hi-Tech Pollution & Health Problems. SVTC was formed in 1982 when groundwater contamination was discovered throughout Silicon Valley near high-tech manufacturing facilities. Though the industry seemed “clean,” toxic chemicals were being leaked out of underground storage tanks. More than 100,000 homes in San Jose were exposed to toxic solvents from a Fairchild computer chip factory. Workers in these facilities were also being exposed to hazardous chemicals on the job. And when hundreds of people inside and outside the factories began developing cancer, reproductive problems, and other illnesses, they banded together to fight back. **SVTC Helped Pass Legislation to Protect High-tech Communities. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition was created and composed of high-tech workers, community members, law enforcement, emergency workers, and environmentalists. The Coalition pushed for legislation that informed the community of the dangerous chemicals being used in the hi-tech factories, and monitored contamination of the area. SVTC was successful in helping create the nation’s first legislation for the monitoring of underground chemical storage tanks. The bill was passed in Santa Clara County, CA, leading to similar bills in California State and then at the federal level. **SVTC Helped Move the EPA to Intervene to Clean Up. As Silicon Valley residents learned more about hi-tech pollution, SVTC played a leading role in uniting communities to demand a cleanup. The Coalition helped move the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene and identify 29 Santa Clara County areas as Superfund sites needing immediate action for cleanup. This constitutes the largest concentration of Superfund sites in the nation. These sites were so contaminated that cleanup efforts still continue today. Unfortunately, many residents (primarily low income people of color) live, work, and go to school near or right on top of these polluted areas, and the effects of long term exposure remains unknown **SVTC Today Works Globally, Continuing to Monitor the Industry. Since its formation, SVTC has been working on research, advocacy, and grassroots organizing to address the effects of the production, use, and disposal of electronic products on human health and our environment. SVTC has played a leading role in holding the high-tech industry accountable and shifting it towards toxic-free recyclable products, strong worker and community protections, and green technological innovations.